The Law: Blackmun's Baptism

Like all Presidents, Richard Nixon yearns to nudge the Supreme Court
toward his views of the nation's needs and priorities. Like many of his
predecessors, Nixon is finding the court slow to respond. His first
court appointee, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, has not yet achieved
intellectual or philosophical leadership within the court. Burger's
chance might come with the exit of three aging Justices: Hugo L. Black,
84, John M. Harlan and William O. Douglas, both 71. But those
venerables were so miffed by Nixon's efforts in the Haynsworth and
Carswell episodes last...